According to me, at least, heh. I’m a fiction writer (fantasy, drama, mystery genres mostly), so what makes me label any character a favorite one is usually one of two things: 1) they inspire the creation of characters in my own writing, or 2) I find myself spending copious amounts of time pondering the character’s situation, motives, words, and actions because they intrigue me. I’ve seen 23 of Luke Goss’ movies so far, and of all the characters he’s played, these are the five that inspired/intrigued me the most.
1. Prince Nuada Silverlance (Hellboy II: The Golden Army, 2008)
I’m sure I don’t have to justify this choice for most of you, heh. Nuada has inspired several characters in various books and role-playing worlds that I have written/created. He’s just too cool for words. I have a replica of his spear hanging on my wall, heh. But aside from just looking cool and being a badass, Nuada stood for a lot of things I sympathize with. His was a cause I truly believed in, although I did not necessarily agree with his methods and ultimate goals.
As an environmental microbiologist, I am constantly placed in a position of having to deal with individuals from government, academia, and private industry regarding environmental issues and the cleanup of sites contaminated with various wastes due to mishandling or disregard/lack of legislation. They search for the solution that visually makes a problem disappear but does not actually clean up the environment, or one that is easy and cost-effective. It’s very sad to realize how much more some people care about money and reputation rather than the environment. Nuada’s apathy and anger toward the human race really resonated with me because I agree… many people are selfish and numb to the problems facing the environment and only care about whether they can do as they please and not how it affects other living things or the planet. I did not view Nuada as a villain so much as a flawed hero, one who used to have a brave and honorable heart that has since been soured by what he’s seen. He’s tragic, but also inspirational. Such a great character, really, and Luke Goss’ performance was just amazing. I wish he had more screen time in this movie.
2. Carl “Luke” Lucas (Death Race 2, 2010, and Death Race 3: Inferno, 2012)
I actually just finished writing a book called A Murderer’s Smile this past summer. I’m not sure what genre it would be in… but it’s a modern drama/mystery with fantasy/horror elements… so whatever you’d call that, heh. The main character was inspired a lot by Carl Lucas and also by another Goss film, Inside. It’s in the editing stage and I hope to self-publish it when it’s all polished up. So yeah, if you inspire me to write a whole book, you definitely get to go on my favorite character list, haha.
What I loved most about Carl Lucas was his moral compass. That’s weird, you might say. Isn’t he a bank robber who likes to shoot people? First of all no, he did not like to shoot people. His face when he shot the cop at the beginning of the film attested to that. It devastated him, that was clear. Great acting in that scene. It’s like shock, horror, and sadness all rushing through the character in one moment. I’ll insert his expression right here because wow:
Secondly, it’s a very interesting concept to have a man so knee-deep in crime and still have a decent amount of honor in him. I loved that Carl Lucas had a conscience about what he’d done (I wish they had left in that one deleted scene where we get to see just how guilty he feels after he has a nightmare about the cop and then cries). He had respect for women and thought nothing of jumping into a fight to protect someone weaker than him (Lists) who he’d only just met days ago. It’s the paradox of the honorable criminal, or the flawed hero. You know he’s done some pretty bad things but you still root for him and want him to make it out alive.
Heh, I liked Carl Lucas (and several others characters) so much that I was afraid to watch Death Race 3, haha. I put it off for the longest time even though I really wanted to see the movie. Knowing that Frankenstein died in the beginning of the first Death Race film I was like OH NO. I had already cried my eyes out when he got all burned up in the car wreck in Death Race 2 (that was just terrible… I was imagining how much pain he must have been in and it was just a really rough thing to watch), and I knew he didn’t die then… so I was afraid of how I would react when I knew he really did die. SPOILER ALERT: …and then the movie pulled a fast one on me, haha, which was great fun. I loved the whole ending of Death Race 3. Glad to see Carl Lucas come out on top… and Niles York get what he deserved. =)
3. Wade (The Night Crew, 2015)
I really liked Wade a lot, and I think it’s because of his whole philosophy with regard to his team. Bounty Hunters are usually in it for the money. They’re often portrayed as kinda coarse and violent people that don’t really give a crap about much except where’s my cash, heh. But Wade truly cared a lot about every member of his team. They were more like a family than a working unit, even though they did work well together, too. SPOILER ALERT: Every time a member of his team was killed, Wade was devastated (and Luke Goss whipped out his ultimate sadness face, which I swear gets me every time). Wade cried, he trembled, he put his head in his hands… holy crap is this a guy in an action film SHOWING EMOTION? It’s a simple thing, but as a writer I am not satisfied with one-dimensional characters that are stuck in some kind of personality rut. Just because you are a man in an action film does not (or SHOULD not) mean you are made of stone. If someone’s head gets blown off next to you, you should react to it. If you lose a friend you care about, you should be affected by it. Even Wade’s relationship with Rose was very human and emotional, with elements not often placed inside an action film. (SPOILER AGAIN: that scene where Rose has to leave a wounded Wade behind and presumably he’s going to die and she screams that she can’t leave him… omg my feels… that whole scene was beautifully done.) It made Wade seem far more real (and again, human), like he was a real person I could understand and relate to. What I value most, is how his multi-faceted personality made me care about him. By the end of the movie I was on the edge of my seat to see if he would make it out alive. I would not have cared that much if not for how wonderfully fleshed out he was throughout the movie. Mae’s line to Rose, “You’re here because you followed a man you believed in,” was a good one. I felt like Wade was a man worth following, too. The movie gives you that impression with the way it slowly develops his character throughout. You come to understand why all these people were willing to place their lives in his hands under his leadership. He’s a complex character in a sometimes flat and superficial genre (and the rest of the movie was refreshingly complex as well for the action genre), which was very rewarding and enjoyable as a movie-goer to watch.
4. Conrad Miller (AWOL-72, 2015)
This character also inspired me to write a book. It’s called Culpability, and I’ve only just started it, but I really like the story I have planned, if I can just manage to pull it off properly, heh. I’m actually waiting to work on it any further because I’m going to use it for my NaNoWriMo project this year. I’m going to have to rewrite what I’ve written anyway so why not, right? But I digress…
I think I liked Conrad for the same reason I like Carl Lucas. Here’s a guy who’s not afraid to get knee-deep in crime, and yet he’s got a seriously good moral compass. That confounds me in a good way, heh. I found myself wondering about Conrad’s past, like how he got involved with the army and why, what made him become a double agent, under what circumstances he and Laura met and why did they fall in love, etc. Seems like he’s done a lot of really bad stuff and yet he’s got almost PTSD symptoms with night terrors over the things he’s done. He made it a point to try to spare people’s lives if he could, especially the innocent and those simply not involved but in the wrong place at the wrong time. I loved that he felt badly enough about those enslaved women to turn the car around and help them, and then, when he got totally screwed for it, haha, he revealed the crooked cop to the good cop. He didn’t have to do any of that. He could have just driven off and left the women, or shot both cops. He also didn’t have to spare the female agent’s life in the café, nor did he have to spare Myron’s either. Family also means a lot to him. He seems happy about the prospect of becoming a father and very eager to keep Laura safe (although she seems like she can take care of herself, haha).
None of this fits the stereotypical action hero, nor does it fit a man as okay with hardcore violence as Conrad is. I really enjoy ambiguous characters like this that bother to make me consider things the film never mentioned, like his motivations and past. I wanted to know more about his past and how he met Laura to understand the events and circumstances and motivations that led him to the time of the movie. I really felt for Conrad’s desire to be free of everything as well. He almost gave me a Viktor vibe (from Interview With a Hitman) with how he wanted to change the course of his life because now he’s going to have a child. Conrad says to Laura at the beginning of the film, “We’re gonna be a family. It’s different.”
The scene where Conrad is speaking to Myron and he asks him to walk a minute in his shoes and consider just wanting to get out… because maybe it’d be him someday who wants out and then what? Myron was completely unfeeling and immune to such emotional pitches, however, but moments like that made me really ponder Conrad’s situation. What if you got so waist deep in a life that you no longer wanted? There’s no way to just wash your hands of everything… not really. It seems so simple… just get out. But as Conrad finds, there are plenty of people who will just never be willing to let it go. Maybe they believe in absolute justice and not in redemption. Maybe they don’t trust or believe Conrad when he says he just wants out and that’s all. Either way, the movie made me really care about his plight and really want to see him and Laura come out alive.
5. The Creature (Frankenstein, 2004)
Okay, I thought “Frankenstein” WAS the monster, and I thought he was a big dumb oaf who lumbered around spouting half-intelligible syllables of nonsense and doing nothing really of value. And then I saw the 2004 Hallmark Entertainment version of Frankenstein and was… blown… away. Luke Goss’ Creature is a thinking, feeling, Paradise Lost-reading, tragic, sympathetic being who gets dealt the crappiest hand that life can bestow on a person. I had never read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus before seeing this version, but I changed my mind after seeing this. The 2004 version is very faithful to her original book. There was such gut-wrenching sadness and anger in Luke Goss’ performance that at times it was difficult to watch. To go from such innocence and awe at the wonder and beauty of the world like a child… to having it just crushed out of him by the cruelty and insensitivity of people (including his own “father”) was just heartbreaking. I never knew the story of Frankenstein was like this. I always avoided the story as it was uninteresting to me. I’m so glad I gave it a chance, and The Creature gets a spot on my favorite character list for opening my eyes to this seriously great story.
That’s my list! Do you agree? Was there a particular character that spoke to you that I overlooked? Comment if you like! =)
